INDUSTRY COMMENT
What is the guidance on non-domestic heat pumps?
Pete Mills, commercial technical operations manager at Bosch Commercial & Industrial, delves deeper into CIBSE AM17 and what changes are coming in regard to non-domestic heat pumps
T
he AM17 guidance for heat pump installations in large non- domestic buildings has been much welcomed by the industry as a UK focused guide covering this tricky subject.
Diving deeper into CIBSE
CIBSE have collaborated with ARUP as well as a broad industry steering group to ensure the guidance is up to date and representative of the many types of heat pump installations that can be employed to tackle, what are often challenging circumstances.
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It is worth noting that AM17 comes hot on the heals of AM16 which covers heat pump installations in multi-residential buildings such as heat networks and there is inevitably some crossover between the two guidance documents. As with most CIBSE guides, it will be most useful to those involved in designing and assessing heat pump installations in both new build and existing buildings. It will act as a process to follow ensuring the right approach is taken from the start, helping to avoid costly mistakes that could lead to poor performance and outcomes. For non-domestic buildings, it is very important to establish that the buildings electricity supply can handle the demand for heating that would otherwise have been supplied by a fossil fuel-based system. There is already plenty of anecdotal evidence that this can be a limiting factor for both new build and retrofit projects with the prospect of costly reinforcement works.
The hope is that AM17 will give a boost to heat pump installations by providing sound guidance that will take some of the uncertainty out of the process of adapting heating systems to low carbon heat pumps.
What changes have been made
What is interesting about AM17 is that it makes it very evident why heat pump installations have struggled to gain momentum. For an installation contractor reading the guidance, it must be very clear that their typical mode of operation will see a lot of changes.
So many of the smaller non-domestic buildings
are served by smaller contractors who manage to keep prices competitive by undertaking simple design and feasibility themselves. From this point of view, the prospect can look very challenging and there is a natural tendency to avoid such work, especially at a time when they are in demand.
Installation contractors have been used to
relatively straight forward boiler swap outs in the all-important retrofit sector, with minimal upgrades to plant room pipework and controls. The prospect of having to tackle demand
reduction and wholescale heating system adaptation to lower operating temperatures will take some getting used to. Having to consider noise from air source heat pumps and how it can propagate and be mitigated is unfamiliar territory. Having to spend more time assessing heat loads and carefully sizing a heat pump to avoid inefficient operation from oversizing, creates
some nervousness. Dealing with a DNO to check electricity supply capacity will slow things down and there are many such considerations that an installation contractor will have to consider.
Looking ahead
Little wonder then that heat pump installations in non-domestic buildings will be challenging and that many installation contractors are looking at a steep learning curve here. To get things moving will take a shift to a different approach, possibly with more sub-contracted specialist areas dealing with electricity supplies and basic design and sizing than there is currently. Gas fired heating with its forgiving flexibility, has given the industry an incredible stable period where little has changed for more than 50 years. Heat pumps will be less forgiving and more standardised solutions will be necessary if we are to speed up the pace of change here. Some existing buildings will be very challenging to adapt, and bivalent systems will be needed especially for older harder to treat buildings. The installation contractors are a vital link in the
process of decarbonising our heating systems and they will need a lot of support to adapt to a different way of working. The relationship with manufacturers has long been a strong one and this will be even more vital at this critical stage.
AM17 will be a key foundation, but it is important that we don’t forget that the installation contractors have to be bought along with this change.
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Read the latest at:
www.bsee.co.uk
BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JULY 2022 17
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